The mission of Jesus is stated in the Holy Gospel according to Luke (4:43): “I must announce the good news of the reign of God, because that is why I was sent.” “We, the people of St. Joseph Parish, Freeport, Illinois, faithful to Jesus’ mission, regularly celebrate the Eucharist and other Sacraments, from which we are sent both to live the Gospel, and to evangelize our neighbors, near and afar. As stewards of God’s generous gifts we are committed to provide the personnel and resources needed to carry out our mission.”
It has been 160 years since the church building was established. We have done our best to protect our holy place and make it a loving community for all who enters it’s newly painted doors. We would like to thank everyone who makes it all worthwhile- thank you to our entire staff, volunteers, co-op organizations, and parishioners like you. We hope you will support us for another hundred years to come.
To celebrate, we will be hosting a community potluck at Oakdale nature preserve. You can even come and join us straight after our 10:30am Mass on the 9th! Bring a dish or two to pass – and don’t forget your good manners. There will be outlets for hot dishes (bring an extension if you need one) and a grill available. Farther Barr will supply drinks: Iced tea and lemonade. We will light the new campfire circle and make S’mores. We’ll meet under the lovely new community shelter – rain or shine! There are brand new restrooms and a children’s playground.
The main nature trail is now asphalted and easy to walk. It’s a great chance to get together again, since the pandemic has kept us from social events. We hope to see you there! It will be more fun with more smiling faces to join us!
More Info: Peg and Steve Ehlbeck at (815) 618-2310
Or LouAnn Coates-Haugh at (815) 238-1163
As you can see from the images below; we have an absolutely beautiful Sunday ahead of us! Oakdale Nature Preserve has been a long-time favorite destination spot for Freeport residents. The park rangers behind Oakdale have taken it upon themselves to beautify this land, and make it accessible for all kinds of outdoor enthusiasts.
Respect Life Sunday is this upcoming Sunday, October 2nd!
Please join the nationwide “Life Chain” near you!
Rockford Join us October 2, from 2:00-3:00 PM to pray for an end to abortion outside Holy Family Church located at Alpine and Highcrest.
Belvidere The Life Chain will take place on the Main Street bridge from 2-3pm.
The bridge is located between Lincoln Avenue and Meadow Street in Belvidere, Illinois. People will be able to stand on both sides of the bridge during the life chain.
Huntley St. Mary Catholic Church Gazebo 3:45-5:00PM 10307 Dundee Road Huntley, IL 60142
LIFE CHAIN is a peaceful and prayerful public witness of pro-life individuals standing for 60 minutes praying in silence for our nation and for an end to abortion
Signs will be provided at all locations.
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Pro-Life Rockford Bumper stickers Now Available!
Simply make a donation of $5.00 and we will mail you the sticker above!
Thank you to everyone who donated items for our gift baskets! They look amazing, and the FPC was very happy to recieve them. It’s all thanks to you, and to the volunteers who helped make this event possible.
St Mary Final Basket
St Joseph Final Basket
From start to finish, we had an amazing turn out! We are proud to represent Pro-Life in our parishes, and these items will all go towards funding better lifes and needs for mothers and their new babies.
On August 13th, 2022 at 5pm, the Freeport Pregnancy center will be hosting an annual fundraising banquet complete with a sit-down dinner, silent auction, and featured speaker Ryan Bomberger. The theme of this year’s event is “Give the Gift of Childhood” and will be held at the historic Rawleigh Property, hone if Dr. Keith and Diane Martin. St. Joseph is happy to partner with the FPC in this endeavour. Each church will be putting together a themed basket for the auction. Church members are encouraged to donate items that fit the theme
This event celebrates the joy of choosing LIFE.
St. Joseph and St. Mary church will be participating in the first ever Silent Auction to be held at this event. We will make two gift baskets, one to represent each church. Please vote for one of three options below. I encourage you all to vote for St. Joseph AND St. Mary, even if you do not attend both. The top rated theme will be chosen by July 18th. When our theme is officially chosen, we will accept donations that fit this theme and make our very special basket to give away at the auction. Please watch the bulletin for more details as we get going!
REMEMBER: IF YOU ATTEND THE AUCTION, YOU WILL HAVE THE CHANCE TO WIN ONE OF THESE!
St. Joseph – Master Chef Basket!
Thank you to everyone who voted and donated!
Let’s get cooking!
This basket will contain cupcake/cake mix, sprinkles, cooking pans, special ingredients, oven mitts, cook books, spices and all the things you need to bake up something delicious.
St. Mary – Vacation Basket!
Thank you to everyone who voted and donated!
Spend the rest of your summer in style!
This basket will contain sunshine, sandy beaches, tropical drinks, self care relaxation products, and anything else you may need for home-away-from-home vacation day.
In light of Roe V Wade being overturned, Father Barr will be holding a Holy Hour of Healing today Friday June 24th at 3:00pm. Join us at St. Joseph Church.
We will pray in reparation for the sin of abortion, and for all the mothers who have suffered through the emotional strife of them.
For more details on the subject, please see the below attachement;
We have reservations at the Fireside Dinner Theatre on Wednesday, November 16th to see the stage adaptation of Irving Berlin’s WHITE CHRISTMAS!
With a series of romantic mix-ups and 17 Irving Berlin songs, White Christmas is a musical to enjoy at any time of year, but is especially loved at the Christmas season. This year you will have the opportunity to choose your entree in advance.
You may select from: • Grilled Pork Ribeye • Beef Short Rib • Grilled Shrimp All are served with Seafood St. Jacques Appetizer, Whipped Potatoes with Garlic and Herbed Cheese, Baby Carrots, Cranberry Orange Cheesecake. Drinks are Coffee, Tea or Milk.
* You MUST select your entree at the time you make your reservation * The bus will leave from St. Joseph Church at 8:45am and return approximately 6:00pm.
The cost is $115 and this includes the chartered bus, dinner, show and all gratuities. To register or for more information, call Mary Koppi (815) 232-4687.
Payment is due no later than October 14th;
Please make checks payable to “St. Joseph Church” and place in the collection in an enveloped marked “BUS TRIP”
RESERVATIONS ARE LIMITED, CALL SOON.
If you know anyone who may be interested, please spread the word! We will have a few posters up in the church with all the needed information.
If you don’t have enough to eat, the Northern Illinois Food Bank’s Mobile Pantry can help!
Northern Illinois Food Bank’s Mobile Pantry distributes nutritious food to high-need areas. Food is free to neighbours in need; no ID, proof of address or income is required. Food is distributed on a first-come, first served basis, while supplies last.
Due to Covid-19, the Mobile Pantry distributions have moved to a contactless drive-thru model, with pre-packedged boxes of groceries.
For additional food resources, visit www.SolveHungerToday.org/GetHelp
Join us:
Monday, June 20th, 2022
10:00am – 11:30am
Located at St. Joseph Church
229 W. Washington Place
Freeport, IL 61032
* Sponsered by the Society of St. Vincent De Paul *
So your child is home from school on Memorial Day. They’re probably excited to play, watch tv, eat snacks, or bust out the video games. And that’s great in small doses! But Memorial Day is a special holiday preserved for the memory of fallen heroes taken by war. It wouldn’t hurt to take the little ones aside for ten or twenty minutes and get them tuned into something creative in the spirit of this day. If your babies are bored stiff sitting at home or annoying you senseless, then this might just be a productive way to get them involved, and have fun doing it!
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie, In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.
~John McCrae
Inspired by John McCrae’s poem, the poppy flower has become a symbol of remembrance for Memorial Day.
CRAFTS!
What you’ll need: All of these crafts can be done with just regular paper, scissors, glue and markers if you are short on resources. But if you want to get extra creative, your art supply kit may also add in; Paint, Crayons, Colored Pencils, Craft Foam, Play Dough, Cookie Cutters, Coffee Filters, Felt Pieces, Tissue Paper, Cupcake liners, Cardboard Paper, Buttons, Straws, Boxes, Pipe Cleaners, Paper Clips, Leaves, Sticks, and Etc.
Sometimes simple is more fun. And sometimes we don’t have that many craft supplies just laying around the house. Or maybe we don’t have time to supervise our kids around scissors and glue! If you need something a little easier or safer, these other printable activities might be perfect for you!
These might take a little more effort, and help from mom and dad. But if you need plans for fun things to do or yummy treats to make, these might pique your interest!
Split the batch of frosting into thirds. The first third we left white and we tinted the other two red and blue.
Using a Wilton 2D frosting tip, make two full circles of red frosting around the edge of the cupcake.
Next, use the Wilton 2D frosting tip with the white frosting. Apply two more circles of frosting but these should be a little smaller than the red frosting layer.
Finally
Star-Spangled Cookies
Red, white, and blue star-spangled cookies are perfect for the 4th of July!Please see just below the recipe for a list of recommended tools for this recipe with links to Amazon, including cookie cutters, gel food coloring, silver star sprinkles, and disco dust Course DessertCuisine American Prep Time 1 hourCook Time 10 minutesTotal Time 1 hour 10 minutes Servings 50 cookies (may vary depending on size of cookie cutter used) Calories 98kcal Author Sam Merritt
gel food coloring I used Americolor “red red” and “electric blue”
silver star sprinkles There’s an Amazon link for these just below the recipe, though I was able to find them cheaper at my local cake shop!
luster dust/disco dust Optional, there is also an Amazon link for this below the recipe
Instructions
Cookies
Preheat oven to 350F.
In KitchenAid mixer or with electric hand-mixer beat your butter until well-creamed.
Add sugar to the mixing bowl and beat with the butter until well combined (about 30 seconds).
Stir in vanilla extract and salt, stirring until well-combined, and scrape down the sides of the bowl using a rubber spatula to ensure ingredients are well-incorporated.
Add egg yolk and beat until combined
With mixer on medium-low speed, gradually add flour until well-incorporated (you will definitely need to scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl several times for this, as the mixture is fairly dry and crumbs tend to settle at the bottom of the bowl).
Transfer dough to clean surface and use your hands to form it into a cohesive ball.
Flatten into a disk (about 1″ thick), cover with clear wrap, and chill for 15 minutes.
Once dough has chilled, transfer it to a clean, lightly floured surface and use a lightly floured rolling pin to roll out to about ¼” thickness.
Lightly flour your cookie cutters and cut out your shapes, transferring them to ungreased cookie sheet.
Once you have cut out all of the shapes that you can, be sure to re-combine the scraps and roll out and cut out again to get the maximum number of cookies from your dough.
Bake on 350F for 10-12 minutes (longer if you are using larger cookie cutter) and allow cookies to cool completely before dipping in chocolate.
Marble Icing Glaze
In a large bowl, combine sifted powdered sugar, 3 Tbsp milk, and light corn syrup. Whisk until smooth. If mixture is too dry, add additional milk, one teaspoon at a time until mixture can be stirred.
Stir in extracts.
Glaze should be thick, to test that it is the right consistency drop a few droplets on top of a test cookie. If the glaze remains stiff, it needs to be thinned. If it runs off the cookie, it is too thin and needs more powdered sugar. If it settles down smoothly, it is just right.
Divide glaze into four small bowls.
Working with one bowl at a time, use a toothpick (a different toothpick for each color) and dip it into the food coloring bottle and then into the glaze. You want a small dot of food coloring (see video).
Drag a toothpick through the food coloring and glaze until it is prettily swirled/marbled.
Holding your cookie at the base, dip the surface of each cookie into the glaze (take a look at your first cookie — are you satisfied with the pattern? Adjust whorls with additional food coloring as needed).
Once the first bowl runs out or the colors become too muddled together from dipping, move onto your next bowl of food coloring (you will probably need to stir first before adding your coloring, as the surface may have begun to harden).
Repeat steps 5-7 until all cookies have been dipped. Allow them to harden at least 30 minutes (may take longer) for glaze to set. Enjoy!
Keep uneaten cookies in an airtight container at room temperature.
(Star-Spangled Cookies https://sugarspunrun.com/star-spangled-cookies/ Find more great recipes at SugarSpunRun.com!)
Whatever you and your family do this Memorial Day, we hope you have a refreshing and blessed day off. The most important thing to remember is that we celebrate this day for the sake of all the brave people who suffered, so that the rest of us don’t have to. We are immensely proud and thankful of all their service over the many years. Thank a veteran today, regardless of what their position was or for how long they served. Respect their stories or their silence. Say a prayer for all of those men and women who went to the city of Heaven far too early. May God bless each and every one of them for all time.
There was no time to include a message in our bulletin this year, but nevertheless, we are extremely grateful to everyone who ordered flowers over the Easter weekend. Thank you for your support. We will continue to pray for those chosen by the memorial lilies;
For Clarence and Marilyn Haugh
For Scott Haugh
For Marion and Eloise Coates
For the Deceased Members of the Robeson Family
For the Members of the Koppi Family
For David and Chuck Weigel
For Don and Rita Wittbecker
For the Robert Gerbick Family
For Steve and Peg Ehlbeck
For Deb and Frank Loksa
For Clare and Andy Loksa
For Frank and Dorothy Conley
For Kenneth and Lois Ehlbeck
For the Deceased Members of the Treinen and Epping Families
*Our secretary is still very new to this job, and is still learning how to process the many events that we hold at our parish. Please forgive her for rookie mistakes like this. With your support, we’ll make sure that next year, our flowers will be raining success.
